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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27976218">Most Powerful Magic</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smart_heart/pseuds/Smart_heart'>Smart_heart</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Family Fights verse [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hilda (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Arranged dating, F/F, I guess???, Watch me write so fast just to post this before season 2, in a way???</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 16:21:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,885</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27976218</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smart_heart/pseuds/Smart_heart</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Set a few months after the end of the events of Family Fights, Hilda and the librarian’s sister are tired of seeing the two of them dancing around each other and decide to take matters into their own hands</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Johanna | Hilda's Mum/The Librarian (Hilda)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Family Fights verse [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1987708</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>39</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Plan</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Heyo! Okay, for a better understanding of this fic, I’d recommend reading Family Fights first. However it’s kinda long so if you want to read this before season 2 comes out and you haven read FF yet, you just need to know that the librarian has a teenage sister named Myra, and that the librarian trains Hilda in witchcraft. You should probably be fine with this info</p>
<p>Oh, also forgive the typos and low quality of the writing. I really rushed with this because I wanted to post it before season two came and ruined my headcanons.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>”Go on.” Her mother encouraged her gently, the hand on her shoulder nudging her forward. “She won’t mind.”</em>
</p>
<p><em>Myra took one look at her mother’s smiling face before entering the living room. She knew her sister didn’t like being disturbed while she was studying, but she was having a sleepover at a friend’s house that night and so she wouldn’t be with Maven when she went to sleep, which would mean missing her bedtime story. She </em>really<em> didn’t want to miss her bedtime story. So now Myra approached her sister, who was taking notes on their living room table, with a book at hands.</em></p>
<p>
  <em>“Mavey?” She called when she got closer, which got Maven to look at her. “Can you read to me now?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Looking slightly irritated, the teenager glanced at the book she was using, thinking about how far she was from finishing her notes. “Does it have to be now?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“I won’t be home at night.” Myra nodded, trying to put on a pleading face. Maven bit her lip and then sighed, resigning to the fact that she wouldn’t be able to tell her no.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“All right.” She reached for her sister's book. “Let me take a look at that.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>As soon as she read the title, she frowned. After skimming through some of the first pages, an eyebrow was lifted at Myra.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Are you sure you want this one?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Yeah! It’s one of my favourites! I love how the knight saves his prince through the magic of love.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Saying that, the little girl twirled to make her skirt flair around her, nearly tripping on her feet when she tried to face her sister again.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Myra, this is stupid.” Maven chuckled, running her eyes through a picture of the two protagonists hugging. “Love isn’t magic.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Yes it is!” She stomped her foot on the ground. “It’s the most powerful magic of all!”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>That only made Maven laugh even more, both at her sister’s innocence and at the angry face she was making at her. It was always hilarious when Myra got angry, like being threatened by a baby kitten.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“You evil sorceress!” Myra exclaimed at her. “One day you’ll see I’m right. Someone will kiss you and you’ll transform into a beautiful princess” </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Out of one of her discarded drafting sheets, Maven made a small paper ball.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Not happening, sweetie. I’d just rather be a witch.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>She threw the ball at her sister, who gave a dramatized gasp of betrayal before beginning to laugh along. Even though she appreciated Myra’s bright eyed way of seeing the world, she knew for sure that love was not, in any way, magic. No matter what the legends and fairytales said. After all, she <em>was</em> a witch. If love was magic, surely it wouldn’t feel so impossible. </em>
</p>
<p>_#_#_#_</p>
<p>Myra did not feel comfortable at all being in that place.</p>
<p>Before those two years when she had been… <em>away</em>, this had been the place she would come to every day. While it had been so familiar, now the school was full of faces she’d never seen, and some she had but for all the wrong reasons.</p>
<p>She could only hope none of those children remembered her from their nightmares.</p>
<p>Of course, once she had begun attending school again, it was not Trolberg’s Elementary School she went to (neither was it their local high school - they couldn’t risk her studying with people from before her marra period and having them question where she’d been at and how she hadn’t aged a day.) but it was still unpleasant to be there. She felt out of place.</p>
<p>Luckily for her, the person she was there to talk to was just coming out of the building, so she wouldn’t need to be there for much longer. Upon noticing Myra by the school’s grades, Hilda stopped on her tracks for a second, surprised to see her there, but she recovered quickly and told her two friends to stay close to the main building while she talked to Myra. Although she’d never been anything less than kind and welcoming to her, Hilda didn’t completely trust Myra yet. She couldn’t say she blamed her.</p>
<p>“Good afternoon!” The girl greeted when she walked closer. “ I didn’t expect to see you here.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, sorry for the surprise.” Myra straightened herself up, no longer leaning against the grades. “But I needed to talk to you at some time when neither your mother nor my sister could hear us.”</p>
<p>Hilda narrowed her eyes with suspicion even as she tried not to let her face show any distrust.</p>
<p>“And why would that be?”</p>
<p>“Hilda, I can not be the only one who is <em>tired</em> of this.” Myra exclaimed, gesticulating with her hands. “It’s becoming ridiculous!”</p>
<p>“What is?”</p>
<p>“The two of them! You are a smart girl, you must have realized at this point that they like each other a lot.”</p>
<p>Finally understanding what the conversation was about, Hilda let her guard drop and nodded.</p>
<p>“They definitely do. Have… have they not noticed?”</p>
<p>“No!” Groaning, she ran a hand through her hair. Her lilac strand was there again, but she still kept it mostly black. “Well, I can’t say about your mother, but I know my sister and she definitely thinks it’s unrequited, and the two of them are driving me mad! I caught my sister singing girl in red, for crying out loud!”</p>
<p>“Things are a little complicated in this aspect, I’ll admit it.” Hilda said, remembering the times she’d found her mother absent mindedly drawing her mentor. “But there’s hardly anything we can do about it, is there? shouldn’t they figure this out on their own?”</p>
<p>“Should they figure it out on their own? Yes. Will they figure it out on their own?” Myra looked at her nails, making a disinterested face which reminded Hilda of her older sister. “Eh, not looking likely. Is there anything we can do, though? <em>Definetly</em>.”</p>
<p>Hilda blinked. “And what is it?”</p>
<p>After giving the girl a mischievous grin, Myra took a step back to start on her way home.</p>
<p>“Meet me in the library at seven this evening.”</p>
<p>_#_#_#_</p>
<p>“I don’t really get it.” Hilda whispered as she followed Myra, who was climbing the stairs to the top floor of the library. “Wasn’t the point being somewhere where they couldn’t hear us? Maven will certainly notice us in her workplace, you know.”</p>
<p>There were few people in the library that evening, mostly students who had work due the next day. None of them were paying the slightest attention to the two girls making their way through the bookshelves, but Hilda felt like she should be trying to go unnoticed at the same time. Whatever Myra’s plan was, she was sure it’d be better if no one else knew.</p>
<p>“Already taken care of. This is the time the Trolberg Book Club comes here, and she needs to give them some attention. Besides, what I need to show you is right here.”</p>
<p>Myra stopped near a bookshelf that Hilda recognized, and her brow furrowed as she realized what she wanted.</p>
<p>“Are we supposed to be here?”</p>
<p>“Nope.” Myra answered as she tried to push the bookshelf. “But in for a penny, in for a pound right? I’m gonna need your help with this.”</p>
<p>Figuring that if she had agreed to go behind her mother and teacher’s backs already, she might as well go through with it, Hilda pressed her side body against the bookshelf and they both grunted as it began to move. As soon as there was a passage big enough for them to squeeze through, they stopped, panting.</p>
<p>“Honestly, you’d think that a magical room would have a better entrance.” Myra mumbled under her breath as she stepped inside and flicked the light switch up, turning the old lamps on.</p>
<p>Hilda came in after her. That room had become familiar to her, not only did Maven take her there for lessons often enough, but it was her first pick when she wanted to research a certain topic. She’d always been advised to be careful, however, as not only there was beautiful knowledge stored in there, but also dangerous information. She didn’t know if Maven had made that up just to scare her into being careful, but she’d even gone so far as to mention the existence of a soul stealing spell that hid itself under the guise of being a good luck charm.</p>
<p>Due to having been taught to act like so, Hilda treated the library’s hidden room with reverence. Meanwhile, Myra looked like she was right at home, skipping down the stairs two steps at a time and going straight to the shelf she wanted. Hilda supposed you saw things in a much more different way when witchcraft had always been a natural part of your life.</p>
<p>“Aha! It is still here.” Taking a book with leather binding out of its place, Myra put it on the table at the corner so that Hilda could see it too.</p>
<p>The first thing to call the young witch’s attention in the page she was shown was a romanticized drawing of a cupid right at the center. Though the ink in any other spot she looked was already faded, the cupid’s colours had resisted the test of time, and Hilda could only imagine there was some magic in the engraving.</p>
<p>When she brought her focus to the actual spell she was being shown, however, she felt like any understanding she thought she’d had of Myra’s plan went down the drain.</p>
<p>“A love spell?” She gasped. “What do we want to make them fall in love for? Is the whole point of us doing this not already believing that they like each other?”</p>
<p>The teenager waited a few moments to speak, letting Hilda take a closer look at the spell first. At the same time that the casting ritual looked simple, Hilda noticed, the potential for that spell to go wrong energy-wise was gigantic, and her brow was furrowed when she lifted her gaze from the book to Myra.</p>
<p>“First of all, no spell can make you fall in love. Magic can’t create love, only the illusion of it. Also, relax! We’re not <em>actually</em> casting it.”</p>
<p>“Huh?” Though Myra was talking as if this all made a lot of sense to her, Hilda still felt like she was missing something.</p>
<p>“Listen.” She said, nearly losing her balance when she squatted down to be closer to Hilda’s height. “We are going to <em>pretend</em> we cast this spell on your mother. There are a bunch of similar spells, but it has to be this one, because it’s the only one that has this completely ridiculous breaking condition.”</p>
<p>Hilda lifted an eyebrow, content to at last be getting an explanation. “Which would be?”</p>
<p>“A kiss from the person the spell made them fall for. Sure, it’s very cute when it’s in curses, but you’ve got to agree that for a spell with the objective of getting the two people together, it’s pretty dumb.” Myra said, picking up the book and showing her the note in one of the corners warning about how the effects would only last until both parties kissed. Hilda had to agree, it did not sound intelligent at all. “So yeah, we’re going to pretend we accidently cast it on your mother, with my sister on the receiving end. And then we’ll tell this to Maven, who naturally will freak out and want to break it, but she <em>knows</em> about this one spell and how to break it. This should give her the motivation to kiss your mother and if we’re lucky enough, they’ll actually <em>talk</em> for a change.”</p>
<p>Rubbing her chin, Hilda looked at the book, then up at Myra, then at the book again. The plan was coming together on her mind, the thoughts organizing themselves in her head like a puzzle. in a way that allowed her to see the parts that didn’t fit.</p>
<p>“I see what you mean.” She hummed. “But how are going to pretend to have accidentally cast a spell? That doesn’t sound very believable at all.”</p>
<p>As she finished her question, she glanced at the entrance at the top of the stairs anxiously. The library was better lit than this secret room, making it so light came in even though the lamps were on. Talking about doing something behind Maven’s back, even if with good intent, made her skittish, and she almost expected to see the older witch at the entrance ready to ground her for a week.</p>
<p>“Obviously.” Leaning her hip against the table, Myra scoffed, though there was no meanness behind it. In fact, she seemed to be amused by Hilda’s clever thinking. “So… that’s the part that might make you give up on the plan. We’re kind of going to have to throw ourselves under the bus.”</p>
<p>“What do you mean?”</p>
<p>Showing the first sign of nervousness since Hilda had met her, Myra looked away from her and around the room, suddenly very interested in the runes in the tapestries. It didn’t look like she was expecting to be caught like Hilda had, however, but like she was trying to gather strength.</p>
<p>“I don’t suppose you have a crush on anybody, do you?”</p>
<p>“What?! No!” Hilda gasped, bringing her hands in front of herself. Remembering that she was in a library, and hidden on top of it, she lowered her voice. “No, I don’t.”</p>
<p>Myra sighed, biting her lower lip in the same way Hilda had sometimes seen Maven do when she was anxious. “Yeah, I figured you wouldn’t have. You’re just a kid.”</p>
<p>As she said nothing else, silence hung over them heavily, making the girl figure it was up to her to push Myra a bit further, even if it looked like she would rather not be pushed.</p>
<p>“Well?” She said softly. “Do you?”</p>
<p>As Myra nodded, Hilda could see the glimpse of a smile on her face even as she gazed down.</p>
<p>“Yeah. Their name is Nyx. And they’re… pretty amazing. My sister knows I like them, so she won’t be surprised. If we orchestrate it well enough, it should be very easy for her to fall for it.”</p>
<p>When the teenager looked up again, the nervousness was gone, and her smile had shifted from smitten to mischievous.</p>
<p>“You see it now, don’t you? We’ll pretend I asked you to cast this spell so they’d fall for me, and we’ll pretend it went wrong in a way that serves us. Maven will see that your mother under a love spell does not act at all differently from your mother normally, they’ll kiss and admit their feelings. Sure, we may make ourselves look bad, but it’s for their own good. What do you say?”</p>
<p>Despite the nerves and the part of her that said she shouldn’t meddle with her mother and mentor’s personal lives, Hilda felt herself suddenly buzzing with excitement. A chance at an adventure and a way to finally stop having to deal with their mutual pining? Looking bad was the least of her worries. Squaring her shoulders, she smiled.</p>
<p>“I’m in.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Spell</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Even though she’d chosen to distance herself from her family’s craft, Myra had far from forgotten all that she’d learned about magic. With the same attention to detail that Maven always applied to her casting, Myra guided Hilda as they built up their plan in a way they could be sure they wouldn’t be caught, not before the appropriate time, at least. The comparison amused Hilda, who thought that as Maven’s calling was magic, Myra’s true purpose was causing mischief.</p>
<p>Phase one of their plan had been brainstormed by both of them, but it was up to Hilda alone to set in motion, and she’d done so the night before. Maven had been invited over to have dinner with them, and when they all had finished eating, Hilda had called both women to her bedroom. The “slip” they’d need to fake for the spell would have needed a strong presence of both Johanna and Maven’s energy in the casting site, and Hilda assured this by having them touch as many things as possible. </p>
<p>This was the part of the plan that had been the hardest to come up with, but eventually the two of them had made a decision. Hilda should make as many drawings as she could and hang them up on random spots in her room, in a way that it would be believable when she said she wanted them there to show them something, and, at the same time, ensure they’d leave enough of an energy imprint.</p>
<p>As expected, they’d been very encouraging about the drawings and apparently hadn’t given any mind to the strage placement they’d been given. It was a bit flattering, Hilda thought, that they’d liked them so much even though they were only rushed sketches made with no other purpose then building up a lie. Maybe she should draw the two of them once they were together, she thought. It might make them more inclined to forgive her.</p>
<p>With that done, it was time for phase two of the plan. Or would it be phase one-point-five, Hilda wondered as she opened the front door to let Myra in, since they were still arranging their steps to make their lie credible? Either way, it was time to pretend they were casting the spell.</p>
<p>“Did everything go well?” Myra asked as she cleaned her shoes on the carpet before coming in. Hilda nodded.</p>
<p>“It did, and neither suspected anything.”</p>
<p>“Great. let’s get moving, then.”</p>
<p>Johanna was out walking Twig, and they’d been lucky enough that Alfur had wanted to go with them. Not that Hilda didn’t trust the elf, but she knew his opinions on irresponsible use of magic, and there was no better way to describe what they were doing there. After guiding Myra to her room, Hilda gestured for her to sit on the bed.</p>
<p>“As I mentioned.” Myra began, watching Hilda pull herself the chair in front of her desk. “Mavey will get very nervous when we break the news. I’m sure you know I don’t really mean <em>angry</em>, she’s not this sort of person anymore, but she sure will be upset and try to find another explanation at all costs. Now, she does trust you and your skills a lot, so she should probably take your word for it, but I think it would be safer if you did something related to love magic right now. In order for her to feel its remnants and think that it’s because of the spell, I mean.”</p>
<p>“That does make sense.” Hilda said unwillingly. It was not so much that she didn’t like the idea, but she’d never studied any sort of love magic before. She hadn’t a clue of where to begin, and at the same time she knew it was a necessary step. For someone who had already done such intricate energy work as Hilda had,  they would need to be very careful if they wanted to get Maven to believe in the situation they would claim. “Do you have any suggestions?”</p>
<p><em>This is a terrible time to not have listened to mother when she tried to teach me</em>, Myra thought even as she put a reassuring smile on her face. For so long the only magic she had had contact with was the dark nightmare magic the Marra had. True, forcing someone to have feelings for you was not too different from the manipulation she’d grown so used to, but she thought it would be better if they had none of <em>that</em> sort of enchantment around them.</p>
<p>“It doesn’t have to be anything big.” She said with far more confidence in her voice than in her heart. “Maybe you could just do some minutes of meditation towards that. Do you have a piece of rose quartz? That should help.”</p>
<p>“I do.” Hilda opened a drawer and took a small, pink pebble from the inside. She then sat cross legged on the floor and closed her eyes.</p>
<p>Though she hadn’t done any energy work in very long, Myra found it fair that she should help the kid since she was the one who had dragged her into that whole thing. She too took her meditation posture, knees bent and sitting on her heels, and did her best to help change the vibrations of the room in a way that could pass for the residues of a love spell.</p>
<p>Surprisingly, the trance-like state came to her so easily that she didn’t notice the time running, and startled when Hilda spoke up.</p>
<p>“Do you think this is enough?”</p>
<p>Myra blinked her lashes open and looked around, as if she’d be able to see any differences with any eyes other than her mind’s.</p>
<p>“You probably know more than me, Hilda. Do you?”</p>
<p>“I guess.” The girl shrugged. “I’m not really sure of what else I could do.”</p>
<p>They were in silence for a few seconds, both staring at Hilda’s hands, slightly hypnotized by the repetitive motion she was doing by twirling the rose quartz around with her fingers. Whether they were waiting to notice something or for some mysterious voice to tell them how well they had done they didn’t know, but since these were the last moments before they actually began their plan it felt right to take their time assuring themselves that their best had been done.</p>
<p>The silence, however, became more uncomfortable than reflexive the more time passed. Sensing this Myra cleaned her throat.</p>
<p>“Nice room you’ve got here.” She said, admiring the natural and fun way Hilda had given her personal touches to the room. Every once in a while, Myra tried to remind herself to be polite. When one spent as much time living with evil spirits as their sole source of human (though she could barely call them that) contact, one tended to forget how normal social interactions worked. It was something she was working on, along with her sister and her therapist, to be more positive when talking to people, less like an actual nightmare monster. Besides, her naturally self-centered personality made it so she’d never really been a pleasant person, and now she was trying to change that. “It really does scream ‘green witch’, in my opinion.”</p>
<p>“Oh!” Hilda smiled at Myra’s unexpected comment. “Thank you. I wasn’t at all too happy when Mum and I moved here, but I had fun decorating my room. I wanted to bring some of the wilderness in with me.”</p>
<p>The teenager smiled as she thought that Hilda had done a very good job with that. “Hey, you know what this reminds me of? Has anybody ever told you about the time my sister nearly cried because of some tarot cards?”</p>
<p>“What?” Leaning forward to hear Myra better, Hilda tried to imagine what kind of message could have been bad enough to reduce Maven to tears. The way Myra laughed told her that it wasn’t a sad story, though, and Hilda anxiously waited for her to continue as she moved her legs to the side to sit more naturally on the floor.</p>
<p>“Yeah, this is a fun one. It’s not like <em>I</em> remember it, of course, I’m pretty sure I was a newborn at the time, but I asked mother to tell me this story <em>many</em> times. When she was a child, Mavey used to have a mock tarot deck that she apparently loved. It wasn’t real, of course, our mother had made it herself with fun pictures and oversimplified descriptions of the card meanings, just so she could get used to them and have some fun pretending to read people’s fortunes. What happened was that one day she was playing outside with the rain, and as she took the deck literally everywhere, it fell on a puddle of mud. You can guess that i was ruined beyond salvation, but apparently my sister threw a <em>huge</em> tantrum because she wanted to hang the muddy cards on our bedroom wall instead of letting go of them. Mother had to pretend to have lost the cards, and when Mavey was told that she literally pretended to be dying and began telling our mother about how those cards were the source of her power and without them she couldn’t live anymore.”</p>
<p>“Oh my goodness.” Hilda chuckled, hiding her grin behind her hand. “Maven sounds like she was a fun toddler.”</p>
<p>“Hilda, she was like, eight at least.”</p>
<p>The girl broke into laughter as she imagined cold, rational Maven being the most dramatic child ever. “Does she know you know this?”</p>
<p>“Yep, and she hates it. Great advice for you, bring that up when you want something from her, it works every time.”</p>
<p>Hilda laughed even more until her sides hurt, now picturing her mentor’s eyes widening and her face becoming red if she ever tried to use an embarrassing story against her. That was the moment when she realized that even though more than an year had passed during which she and the librarian had been very close, she wasn’t near to knowing her as much as Myra did. Opposite to upsetting her, it made her wonder if there were more things she could tell her about the older witch, and even about her own life. Gaining proximity with Myra herself was beginning to sound like something she’d like.</p>
<p>“You know, Myra.” Hilda said when she stopped laughing. “If this works, we’ll practically be in the same family.”</p>
<p>Myra blinked, clearly not having seen that comment coming. “Yeah, I guess so.”</p>
<p>Seeing she had her attention, Hilda opened a playful smile. “Can I begin calling you auntie already?”</p>
<p>Hands on the floor behind herself, Myra threw her head back and chortled good naturedly. “No way in hell, kiddo.”</p>
<p>_#_#_#_</p>
<p>“I guess this is it.” Hilda whispered anxiously, Twig by her feet not understanding why the girl looked so uneasy.</p>
<p>“Which one of us is gonna do it?” Hilda’s nervousness was mirrored in Myra’s voice. If anything went wrong, it would be at this part of the plan. Not only that, but if the plan went <em>right</em> they’d be scolded for irresponsibility. Seeing as that was the best outcome, neither of them were particularly excited about it.</p>
<p>A full day had passed since they’d been in Hilda’s room, working on faking leftover magic. Figuring that the time that had passed would have been enough for Hilda to notice the love spell’s symptoms on her mother, and for the two of them to discuss what had happened and reach a conclusion about the way the spell had gone wrong, they now found themselves in the library again.</p>
<p>“Better if we do it together, I suppose.” Myra nodded at Hilda’s comment, and they both tip toed away from the bookshelf they’d been hiding behind while they watched Maven reshelf books.</p>
<p>When she noticed them coming in her direction, she smiled, but it faded upon her seeing their worried expressions. At least those were things they hadn’t needed to fake.</p>
<p>“Is everything alright?” She asked, pausing the song she’d been listening to and bringing her headphones to rest on her neck</p>
<p>The two of them glanced at each other as Maven climbed down the ladder, and Hilda rubbed her neck. “We messed up.”</p>
<p>_#_#_#_</p>
<p>“Tell me again how it happened.”</p>
<p>Myra had been right to assume Maven would lose her cool when they revealed the problem. While they’d been talking about the attempted spell, Maven had done nothing but look at them with a lifted eyebrow, apparently knowing that sort of spell was due to backfire, but when they got to the part about what, exactly, had gone wrong, the witch had looked like a bucket of icy water had been dumped on her head. She quickly grew agitated and insisted on going to the casting site, in that case Hilda’s room. The scolding had yet to come, as she seemed much too lost in thought to give a mind to how the two of them were to blame for the situation.</p>
<p>“I asked Hilda to cast a spell for me.” Myra sighed. At that point, the nervousness was gone, replaced by boredom due to having to repeat that yet another time. “But the taglocks we used for me and Nyx weren’t personal enough.”</p>
<p>“I couldn’t get a proper hold of the energy.” Hilda continued, feeling as tired of repeating herself as the teen. “And it escaped my control and decided to manifest into the two other people whose presence in my room was stronger, which would be my mum and directed to you.”</p>
<p>“Oh, honestly-” Maven paced around the room, grumbling to try and hide her panic behind irritation. “The two of you should know better. Which love spell did you use? We need to do a counterspell or brew an antidote as soon as possible.”</p>
<p>Hilda looked nervously at Myra, suddenly uncertain because she hadn’t thought of what to do in case Maven said that. Myra, however, was clearly doing her best to contain a smirk of satisfaction, and from her jacket’s pocket she pulled a copy of the spellbook’s page.</p>
<p>Maven took it from her hands and ran her eyes through it, once, twice, enough times for Hilda to figure she did not want to believe what she was seeing. When the witch looked back at the two girls, her face was one of utter incredulity.</p>
<p>“Please tell me this is a joke. Of all the love spells, please tell me you didn’t actually go for this one.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t want it to be forever.” Myra shrugged. “I knew that if they got the chance to know me better they’d like me. By the time we kissed there would be no need for a love spell at all.”</p>
<p>Maven’s hands tightened on the paper, making it crumple. </p>
<p>“Myra.” She said slowly to her sister, who bit the inside of her mouth to stop herself from smiling. She was reasonably sure her sister was pretending that the sheet of paper was her neck. “I am going to feed you to a fucking Barghest.”</p>
<p>Gasping dramatically, Myra leaned towards Hilda and covered her ears with her hands. “Mavey, language! There are children in the room!”</p>
<p>Maven’s face became even more red, and she looked as if she would explode at any moment. She opened her mouth to say something, but they were spared as they heard the sound of the front door opening.</p>
<p>“Hilda, I’m back from the meeting!” Johanna said from the living room. “Where are you?”</p>
<p>“In my bedroom, mum!” She shouted back, growing slightly concerned with how the librarian seemed to have stopped breathing. “I… invited some friends over for tea, I hope that’s okay!”</p>
<p>“Oh!” They heard the woman gasp. “Sure is. Frida and David?”</p>
<p>Walking to Hilda’s bedroom door to poke her head out and look at Johanna, Myra waved. "It's us, actually! We’ll go greet you properly in a second, Hilda is just showing us a new touch she added to her wand!”</p>
<p>Johanna told them to take their time, and Myra closed the door again. </p>
<p>“Quick thinking.” Hilda praised, making Myra shrug in attempted modesty as Maven raked her hands through her hair, leaving herself looking slightly insane.</p>
<p>“What are we going to do?” The older witch said to herself, which obviously didn’t stop the other people in the room from hearing. Myra had to admit, she almost felt bad for making her sister that worried. Almost.</p>
<p>“You are going to talk to her and... take a look at the difference for yourself. Then we can trace a plan.”</p>
<p>Maven looked like she wanted to argue that there was no plan to be traced, that there was only one solution for that spell’s effects, but instead she took a deep breath in.</p>
<p>“Yes.” She squared her shoulders. “I’ll go and assess the damage.”</p>
<p>Putting on a brave face, Maven left the room first, followed by Hilda and lastly Myra. When Johanna saw them coming, she smiled. </p>
<p>“Good afternoon, you three! Maven, will you help me make some tea? Yours definitely tastes better. I’ll get the biscuits”</p>
<p>Such a simple question, yet it seemed to throw Maven off completely. She followed Johanna to the kitchen and began doing as she was told, but every few seconds or so she’d glance at the woman, nearly dropping boiling water on herself when she caught Johanna staring.</p>
<p>“Looks like it’s working.” Hilda whispered to Myra from their seats at the table, where they were watching the interactions in front of them with no small amount of interest.</p>
<p>“Sure does.” She chuckled. “Now we sit back and enjoy the show.”</p>
<p>_#_#_#_</p>
<p>“It’s worse than I thought it would be.” </p>
<p>“What is?”</p>
<p>The three of them were just outside Hilda’s building, close enough that Johanna wouldn’t be suspicious about Hilda going too far without warning her but far enough that she wouldn’t hear them talking either.</p>
<p>“Johanna’s situation!” Maven hissed as she kept her voice down even though she wanted to scream. “Didn’t you notice? She was… looking at me when she thought I wouldn’t notice. Also she was smiling all the time and laughed even when I didn’t joke! She blushed when we hugged goodbye, for crying out loud! I have no idea how you two did this to her.”</p>
<p>Watching Maven pace back and forth on the sidewalk, the two girls stared at her.</p>
<p>“You have got to be the stupidest person alive.” Myra said, which made her sister turn to her abruptly with her face scrunched in both confusion and irritation.</p>
<p>“What Myra means.” Trying to prevent a fight between the two Underhills, Hilda put one hand around Myra’s shoulders and squeezed, as if wordlessly telling her she needed to behave for their plan to work. “Is that now you know you’ve got to break it!”</p>
<p>Maven glanced away from Hilda, biting her lip before remembering she shouldn’t let any nervousness show. If she wanted her apprentice and her sister believing that Johanna was simply a friend to her, than she had to act less anxious about that whole ordeal. There was such a thing as “friendship kisses”, weren’t there?</p>
<p>“Yes.” She said with as much confidence as she could in that moment. “Yes, you’re right. I’ll go back in and solve this already.”</p>
<p>“What? No, you can’t do that!” Walkimg away from Hilda, Myra stopped in front of her sister to place her hands on her upper arms, stopping her from going back into the building. Maven lifted an eyebrow.</p>
<p>“And why not?”</p>
<p>“Well, you can’t just walk in and kiss her. Johanna’s a <em>lady</em>, Mavey. You’ve got to treat her like such! The bare minimum you can do is to ask her out on a proper date.”</p>
<p>“A date?!” Maven gasped, almost choking on her words.</p>
<p>“Of course! I really doubt she’d appreciate you going in there and kissing her like some brute. You’ve got to do something nice, woo her.”</p>
<p>As she grabbed her sister’s wrists and made her stop holding her arms, Maven scowled. “Could we not talk about <em>wooing</em> people in front of their daughters?”</p>
<p>“No, no,  I’m with Myra.” Hilda chimed in, which made Maven stare at her with a look of utter betrayal on her face. Though it felt encouraging that her teacher had expected her to be on her side, Hilda would have to let her down just that once. “I think my mother would much rather you took her on a date before doing it. It sounds much more considerate, don’t you think?”</p>
<p>“I don’t want her to get the wrong idea.” Maven sighed, looking like she was starting to be swayed in their direction.</p>
<p>“You can always explain the reason behind your actions after it is done.” Myra pointed out. “But you won’t be able to change the way this whole experience affects what she thinks about you. Better to do it right, don’t you think?”</p>
<p>Seeing she had neither of their support, the witch sighed in defeat.</p>
<p>“Fine. I’ll come here tomorrow and ask her out. But let’s go home right now, I’m exhausted.”</p>
<p>“Of course, sister dear!”</p>
<p>“Goodbye then, Hilda. Rest assured that we’re going to have a long chat about completely undignified use of witchcraft when this matter is settled.”</p>
<p>When Myra chuckled, Maven tapped her arm. “I don’t see what is so funny, you’re grounded until second notice.”</p>
<p>Maven began walking away, and Myra followed slowly, walking backwards with her face turned to Hilda. She grinned and shrugged, making  the girl giggle. Their plan was working swiftly, and no retribution from Maven’s part would be bad enough to not be worth having seen her come unglued in that way.</p>
<p>“She’ll thank us.”  Myra formed the words on her lips though no sound escaped, and Hilda nodded in agreement before waving. She, too, was now certain they were doing the correct thing. Now it was only up to the two women to make the right choices as well.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hope y’all liked it!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Date</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Last chapter y’all, let’s go!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For all her flaws, Myra had never considered herself to be a gossip, at times being a little bit <em>too</em> private, in fact. But that day, she was proud to say that she was going to put her nose where she absolutely hadn’t been called.</p>
<p>As she chose her most basic jacket and put it on, she mused about how her Marra powers would have come in handy for what she was about to do. But alas, she had none of it anymore. <em>It won’t be a problem.</em> She told herself. <em>Nothing more natural than a teenager hanging out with a blue haired girl in the park. Following a couple around. And hiding behind bushes. Yes, not suspicious at all.</em></p>
<p>Maven had left the house a good ten minutes prior, however Myra was still very cautious when she closed the front door behind her. In case something had happened and her sister was still lurking on the front yard, the excuse that she was simply going to hang out with a friend was at the ready on the tip of her tongue. It wasn’t exactly a lie.</p>
<p>Not having found any traces of Maven, Myra hopped on her bike and began cycling away, ready to pick up the second member of her party.</p>
<p>As a precaution, she didn’t make the turn onto her street right away, but rather decided to walk to the corner and take a glance at the front of Hilda’s building. The last thing she needed was to be caught by Maven when she was picking up her date. </p>
<p>Since once more the coast was found clear, she climbed on her bicycle again and stopped directly in front of the building’s front door. Hilda must have been watching the movement in the street as she waited for her, because she came out almost immediately. </p>
<p>“Mum seemed very happy!” Hilda said as she climbed on the back seat, sounding genuinely pleased for her mother. “They left a very short time ago, maybe it’s better if we go slowly.”</p>
<p>“You’re right. Let’s take the long way.”</p>
<p>They didn’t worry about losing the two women as they took a completely different path, following through the streets at the edge of the city in order to eventually arrive at the park which was in its core. Hilda had taken care of that by getting out of her mother the information of exactly which restaurant they’d be eating at.</p>
<p>Even though she was not the greatest fan of bikes, still not having become entirely comfortable with them even though her friends had taught her how to ride them, Hilda thought that being Myra’s passenger as they unhurriedly traveled through the city was very enjoyable. It allowed her mind to wander, and not surprisingly it was filled with thoughts of her mother. She did so hope she’d find happiness. The woman had always been so focused on her daughter’s safety and well being, but Hilda suspected she felt alone. </p>
<p>Her friend’s parents didn’t really talk to her, and nor did many of the other adults she’d seen her mother attempting to interact with. Guilt nagged her mind because she knew this was partially her fault, that people thought her mother mad because of the adventures she went on and the creatures she befriended. But Maven didn’t think Johanna was mad. She didn’t think Hilda was mad either. She’d told them - or at least, she’d told Hilda, but the girl knew the sentiment extended to her mother as well - that she found them wonderful and that being with them made her happy. Hilda knew Maven made her mother happy too, and not only because she helped Johanna deal with her shenanigans or because she was another adult who would bring herself to talk to her. They simply… matched. They brought out the best in each other. And even though the librarian was already part of Hilda’s family in every way that mattered, it would be nice to officially have her in it</p>
<p>Having Myra would be nice too, she mused with a smile as the teenager cursed under her breath about an irresponsible driver. Though even more people might stop talking to Johanna if Hilda and Myra were allowed to plot together with frequency.</p>
<p>“Alright kid, here we are.” Her voice cut through Hilda’s thoughts as she put one foot on the pavement, stopping the bicycle. Even though they’d just arrived, the sounds of birds chirping and leaves rustling with the wind on the lush trees already filled their ears. “Aw, what a lovely place! I bet it wasn’t Mavey who chose it.”</p>
<p>That park was famous for having a few restaurants, as well as for holding a market on mondays, and the one beside them was made of brown bricks that had been painted to look older than they were. The building in itself was small and looked somewhat out of place with all the green surrounding it, only big enough for the kitchen and a few seats, so there were many more on the outside where the patrons could enjoy the park’s view better. Among those, they quickly spotted Maven and Johanna.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, Johanna seemed to be talking excitedly while Maven blushed and nodded nervously. Since they knew what the situation looked like for her, the two girls though it was not a very promising behaviour for a date, but taking into consideration that Johanna <em>didn’t</em>, they hoped she’d brush off her partner’s conduct as first date anxiety.</p>
<p>“I guess we need to find somewhere we can hear them but they can’t see us.” Myra said. Instinctively, the two of them had hidden behind a tree as soon as they arrived, which attracted a few odd stares in their direction. Since none of those were from the people they were spying on, they paid no mind.</p>
<p>“Over there!” Hilda pointed to some bushes relatively close to their table, but not close enough to be on the restaurant’s limits. It probably would attract a great deal of attention if they got caught and asked to leave by a waiter.</p>
<p>They sneaked behind the back of the restaurant so as not to be seen, and quickly settled themselves where the bushes covered them. Or at least, they covered Hilda. Myra had to constantly remind herself to not sit up straight so her head wouldn’t be visible.</p>
<p>“So, we need to watch out for a kiss so Maven doesn’t say something that ruins it all… but we can’t pay attention to what they’re saying all the time?” Hilda whispered so as to check the plan.</p>
<p>“Well, I mean, we <em>can</em> pay attention, but I would rather not know so much about my sister’s romantic life.”</p>
<p>The girl chuckled. “Nor I about my mother’s. We will probably notice if they stop speaking for too long, anyway. Right?”</p>
<p>“Yeah.” As she nodded, Myra was already going over what she would say when they <em>did</em> kiss on her head. “Now all we have to do is wait and hope they aren’t as hopeless as they seem.”</p>
<p>_#_#_#_</p>
<p>When Maven had asked her out on a date, Johanna had been thrilled. It hadn’t really come out of nowhere, they’d been dancing around their feelings for months now, even if Johanna had never allowed herself to hope that Maven truly did like her that way. So when the invitation came, she hadn’t even hesitated to agree and suggest a restaurant she’d heard very good things about.</p>
<p>Things hadn’t, however, gone quite like she imagined they would. By inviting her, Maven had made Johanna believe that she was already somewhat comfortable with her feelings, and also comfortable around her, due to them seeing each other so much since Hilda began being trained. That didn’t seem to be the case, however, considering Maven had spent a great deal of the date looking out of place and anxious.</p>
<p>Not that the librarian had been rude, far from it, perhaps she’d been a little too polite for two people who already knew so much about the other. This was what concerned Johanna. She’d had a good time regardless of anything, but judging by her behavior she highly doubted that Maven had too. Whether this was coming from having second thoughts about dating Johanna, or from being naturally shy in situations like that, it still meant that the date was probably not going well, and if it wasn’t going well… Maven would probably not want to repeat it.</p>
<p>She spent their date trying to get these thoughts out of her mind, concentrating on their conversation since it was her doing most of the talking, but her mind couldn’t help but revisit these worries every once in a while. When they were done eating and Maven invited her for a stroll in the park, Johanna thought that maybe this was her idea of going somewhere private to let her down gently. She knew Maven would be very courteous about it, but she still wasn’t looking forward to being told that that attempt had been a mistake.</p>
<p>That was the reason why, when Maven stopped walking and placed herself directly in front of her right before asking for permission to kiss her, Johanna was so shocked she became motionless for a second. When her consciousness returned to her, she accepted, perhaps with a little too much happiness.</p>
<p>Though she eagerly tangled her fingers in Maven’s smooth hair like she had daydreamed about doing for so long, the librarian restricted herself to placing her hands on Johanna’s upper arms. Johanna could feel her heartbeat quicken at the first taste of Maven, like fall and coffee and a hint of the wine they’d just had, but even her excitement didn’t stop her from noticing how very controlled Maven’s movements felt as she kissed her. Was she always like this, Johanna wondered.</p>
<p>She was breathing quicker than normal when the kiss ended and Maven drew back, and she would have smiled, had she not noticed how her date was staring deeply into her eyes, clearly looking for something.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry.” Maven said, her widened eyes making it look like she’d seen a ghost. Johanna blushed with embarrassment, and took her hands away from her hair to cross her arms on her chest.</p>
<p>“Are you?” Looking down, she asked in a small voice.</p>
<p>“Yes! I promise I didn’t want to take advantage in any way, I just needed to do that to break the spell!”</p>
<p>Johanna blinked and brought her eyes back to the librarian. “Spell?” She repeated, wondering if the one glass of wine she’d drunk had had a bigger effect on her than she had imagined.</p>
<p>“Well-” </p>
<p>Maven was about to explain the situation, hoping to defend herself well enough that Johanna would bear her no ill will after all of this ended, when they both gasped as two figures jumped from behind the nearest tree.</p>
<p>“We’re going to stop you right there before you say something you'll regret!” Myra said, making Maven choke in her own confusion. At the same time, Johanna gasped her daughter’s name and blushed even harder when she realized that she’d been watching the scene.</p>
<p>“We apologize a lot for the intrusion!” Hilda was haste to add, trying to get the words out before her brain could focus too much on all the conflicting emotions in the women’s faces and lose her train of thought completely. “But we have to admit to saying some untruths before either of you do anything else.”</p>
<p>While Johanna could barely get past her confusion, wondering why on earth the two of them had chosen that time to be honest about past mistakes, Maven narrowed her eyes and whispered for them to go on.</p>
<p>“So yeah, that whole love spell thing was kind of a sham.” Myra said as she watched Johanna frown. “I didn’t ask Hilda for anything, and she didn’t cast a thing. Johanna is just naturally like that around you and you had never noticed like the thick headed- OW!”</p>
<p>Before Myra could go on and make matters worse, Hilda brought down her heel on her foot, though without enough strength to justify the teen’s yelp of pain.</p>
<p>“We noticed that you liked each other-“</p>
<p>“‘Cause you’re <em>terrible</em> at hiding it.”</p>
<p>“We noticed you liked each other.” Hilda repeated with a glare at Myra as if to tell her to be civil. “And decided to help along!”</p>
<p>Seeing that her mother wasn’t understanding much, Hilda directed her speech at her. She supposed that plan really was quite complicated. “So basically we pretended to have cast a love spell on you, one that could only be undone by having Maven kiss you, and she kind of fell for it. Since she didn’t want you to be forced to love her, she tried to break it! Of course, now that you both know there is no spell… well, we’ll leave that up to you.”</p>
<p>“The two of you have got to be kidding me.” Maven hissed, but judging by the blush covering her face, they easily guessed that her anger was an attempt at hiding her awkwardness.</p>
<p>“Gee, would you look at the time!” Grabbing Hilda’s wrist, Myra made a show of looking at her nonexistent watch. “Hilda and I really have got to go, see ya around!”</p>
<p>Saying this they began running away to the opposite direction, where they would find Myra’s bike again and each head home, hoping their respective adults would be feeling particularly forgiving when they arrived later.</p>
<p>Though she herself had been rendered motionless, Maven had expected to hear Johanna screaming after her daughter, maybe even running after her to prevent her from escaping. Instead, what she heard was a nervous chuckle.</p>
<p>“You like me?”</p>
<p>Maven inhaled sharply, turning to her date. What a fool she must look like, and yet, Johanna was smiling shyly at her.</p>
<p>“Of course I do. It’s…” She buried her hands on her pants’ pockets, uncomfortably looking at Johanna’s shoes instead of her face. “It’s very easy to.”</p>
<p>Looking at her feet as she had been, Maven noticed it when Johanna stepped closer right before putting a finger under her chin to lift her gaze up. There was no judgment or resentment on her warm, honey coloured eyes.</p>
<p>“This is good to know. I like you too, a lot.”</p>
<p>Maven felt stupid for gasping, but she did. A few nights had been spent dreaming about a scenario like this, albeit with less interference from meddling children, but it truly was happening, and Johanna didn’t look like she was saying that just to not make Maven feel like her feelings were unrequited.</p>
<p>Now that she had processed the information more, had Johanna not accepted this whole date and the kiss without being bewitched?</p>
<p>“Can we continue this date, then?” Johanna asked, still sounding a little insecure for reasons Maven couldn’t fathom. “With everything cleared this time?”</p>
<p>“I’d like nothing best.”</p>
<p>When Johanna smiled brightly at her, Maven felt like her heart would beat right out of her chest, and she was sure her answering smile must have looked silly and love struck, but it didn’t matter. Johanna said she liked her. Even with all she knew, even with all they’d been through, Johanna cared for her in the same way she did.</p>
<p>It was such a strange, wonderful feeling. She could see everything clearly now, how Johanna’s hugs always lingered, how she seemed so happy when she’d stay for dinner, the way she always looked extremely interested when she told her she was reading a romance. Suddenly all those things became clear at the same time that she felt a cloud come over her head, blocking any other thoughts she may have and any wishes other than being with this woman. So strange it was, that she couldn’t compare it to anything other than witchcraft.</p>
<p>She’d been disastrously wrong all her life, she realized as Johanna took her hand and invited her to walk down the park to where the rose bushes were. Love really was the most powerful magic of all.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I hope you enjoyed reading this little fic as much as I enjoyed writing it! See you all after season 2!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Me making the characters in little Myra’s book gay and Myra’s crush non-binary while headcanoning Johanna as bi and maven as lesbian: watch me cram the whole lgbt acronym in a single chapter.</p>
<p>(Also if you want to believe that Hilda blushed with the “do you have a crush” question because she thought about Frida... feel free to 👀)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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